The Devil's Throne (+4)

Peasant bread to feed the masses,

millers stone between the classes

 

Grovel here and grovel there,

crumbs for beggars—no meat to share

 

Caught inside the rising dough,

leavened voices cry out low

 

Baking deep within the flames,

bribes that lie—and Lords to blame

 

With each slice cut, Hell calls a name,

its coals to brand, ignoble fame

 

Bread for the masses, meat off the bone,

revenge on fire—the Devil’s throne

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

 

The Rim

 

Living along the ledges,

life is about the edges

 

The meaning sharpens and cuts

—the higher you go

 

(Bryn Mawr College: August, 2014)

 

 

Transubstantiation

 

When one man is cut

—every man starts to bleed

 

When one man is healed

—all men become as one

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2014)

 

Dying Legions

 

Training the enemy within,

universities soldier on

 

Unchecked and unaccountable

 

They march to the beat of the

government drum

 

Tearing us apart from the inside

 

While Rome burns

—and Legionnaires die

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2014)

 

 

 

The Vineyard

 

Heaven leaks the truth

to writers who thirst

 

The drip of each word,

filling line after line

 

All meaning distills,

when the words press together

 

The pages a vineyard

—as water becomes wine

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)